Barbican Centre and Estate

The Barbican Redevelopment Scheme was a project of staggering scale and complexity. It took nearly three decades to design and build; involved the design of over 2,000 flats, two schools and an arts centre; it required the realignment of an Underground line and the excavation of 190,000 m³ of soil and at its peak employed a thousand workers. The Barbican Centre designs were approved in 1971 and included a concert hall seating 2,000, a theatre for 1,300, an art gallery, a lending library, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, cinemas, catering facilities, foyers and car parks. (Barbican.org.uk)